1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to adaptive control systems for control of a process (or plant) and is particularly applicable to the operation and control of magnetostrictive actuators.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Actuators made from magnetostrictive materials are known to exhibit useful strains on applied loads but suffer from wide variations in response with changes in load. This, plus the presence of hysteresis in the strain versus magnetic field intensity curve known to be exhibited by these materials, renders the use of conventional adaptive control systems such as those having a linear feedback design wholly inadequate for the purpose.